From Moviesandbox

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Introduction

After completing the My first Movie Tutorial, let's take a first look at the Camera functions of Moviesandbox and create a short sequence based on the setup from My first Movie (see pic 0).

Cameras in MovieSandbox

Cameras can be created using the character menu in the SceneEditor. It's the fourth icon from the top, and you can place it anywhere you like. Notice that cameras have a collision model and cannot be moved through level geometry. Alternatively, you can also use the K key to place a camera at the position you are currently at.

Camera Properties

Create your first camera and place it somewhere near the pawn. Click on it to open up its property menu. Notice the small preview window that gives you an idea of what your camera is looking at (see pic 1). Besides moving and rotating, you can also change the Field of View (FOV) of your camera. Let's do that now and change it to '60'. Notice how the preview window updates. There's also a Button called Possess below the Field Of View Button. Press it to control the camera with the Movement Keys. Press again to "release" the camera. Find a convenient Location for your first Camera, so you can see your character.

Including your Camera

In order to switch to your camera when playing your sequence, you need to use the SetCam Node from the Node Menu. Instead of assigning it to the Pawn Root (which you could do), we want to start an independent Root Node, called a Script Root. I'll explain in a second. Create a Script Root Node and place it somewhere convenient (see pic 2).

If you haven't done so already, create a SetCam Node and Link it to the Script Root. Click on the SetCam Node to open its property menu. As you can See, Camera Actor is a Property of the SetCam Node. Click on the Property and then on your Camera to assign it as the Camera Actor. Let's leave the other options as is for now, we'll cover them later on in the Advanced Cameras Tutorial (see pic 3). Once you Linked the SetCam Node to the Script Root Node, press Spacebar to see your sequence playing out.

What is a Script Root Object ?

A Script Root is the beginning of a List of Orders. Just like the Pawn Root we learned about in the My first Movie Tutorial. Though this time it is not linked to a specific Object. The MoveTo Node requires a Pawn Root, because it moves the Pawn Root's Character. A MoveTo Node would work with a Script Node, as it would not know which character to move. A SetCam Node however just sets the camera to a specific Object, defined in the SetCam Node's Properties Menu. As the SetCam Node is the first Order, it gets executed immediately after running the movie and thus sets defines your camera view.

Creating a Camera Sequence

Let's fly over to the other side of the bridge and place another camera so it point towards your character (see pic 4). This Camera will be used to create a Cut in our sequence, so it is necessary to be aware of the concepts of Basic Filmmaking to make this work. It's nothing technical, just some conventions on what looks good and what doesn't when switching between camera angles (see pic 4).

After placing your Camera, create another SetCam Node and set your Camera as its CameraActor (in the SetCam Node's Property Menu). You can now Link it to the other SetCam Node and Test your movie. Though the result is not what we desired. That is due to the fact that the second Camera Switch gets executed immediately after the first one, making the first SetCam Node useless. In Order to make a convenient Camera switch, we need to tell our Script Root to wait a couple of seconds before switching to the second camera.

WaitForTimer Nodes

Through the Node Menu, create a WaitForTimer Node and place it somewhere close to the first SetCam Node. Notice that for our convenience, the SetCam Nodes highlight the cameras they are assigned to when you move your mose over them. Unlink the first SetCamera Node by left clicking on either the Node In of the SetCam Node or the Node Out of the Script Root Node and then clicking at some empty space on your screen.

Your SetCam order now doesn't get execute when starting your sequence, as it is not Linked to a Root Node. Unlink the Second SetCam Node from the first, so that you have the two SetCam Nodes, the WaitForTimer Node and the Script Root node all unlinked.

Then re-link your first SetCam Node to the Script Root as we want the camera to take control when starting our sequence. Then, link the WaitForTimer Node to the first SetCam Node. In the WaitForTimer Node's properties, type in a desired WaitTime, like 3. WaitTime is measured in seconds (see pic 5). The WaitForTimer Node basically waits a specific Number of seconds (as defined in WaitTime) before the next next node can be executed. Now you can Link the second SetCam Node to the WaitForTimer Node and test your Sequence with Spacebar. If all went right, you have created your first camera sequence. Congratulations! (see pic 6)

LookTargets

When clicking on the SetCam Node, you can see other Properties besides the CameraActor Property we used till now. One of those other Properties is the LookTarget Property.

LookTarget basically sets the camera's rotation so it faces the specified object all the time. Let's try this out by assigning your Character as the second SetCam Node's LookTarget (see pic 7).

more Cameras

If you want to include more than two Cameras, you can do so by creating a Camera Object for each of the individual shots you want to include. Camera's represent the different Camera Angles, whereas the cuts from and to the different cameras are controlled by the SetCam Node. So you can have a couple of cuts from and to your two cameras without the need to create new Camera Objects, by reusing your Camera Objects in new SetCam Nodes.